


That's The Thing About Forevers

by DraconisFelicis (Ravenhoot)



Series: Musings of the Santos Brothers [7]
Category: Caraval Series - Stephanie Garber
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Could Be Canon, F/M, Illusions, Magic, Mind Control, Stephanie Garber, Valenda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-22 23:29:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20330296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ravenhoot/pseuds/DraconisFelicis
Summary: Legend's POV from inside the cage during the final showdown with The Fallen Star.Obviously, spoilers forFinale.





	That's The Thing About Forevers

Legend watched with equal parts fury and disgust at the sickening punch-drunk expression on Tella’s face as Jacks led her into the throne room. From behind the bars of his pathetically small gilded cage, he could do nothing more than watch. He moved to grip the bars but snatched his hands back as the metal burned his skin. The Fallen Star truly was a sadist. 

Taking care to keep a safe distance from the bars, Legend called out to her. Anything that involved Jacks was a plan bound to go off-script. 

“Tella.”

She didn’t even so much as turn her head. Perhaps she didn’t hear him. 

“Tella,” he called, louder and more direct than the first time. 

Nothing. She hadn’t looked at him since entering the throne room. In fact, Legend realized she hadn’t looked at anything or anyone other than Jacks since the Fate had escorted her in, his arm wrapped lazily around her shoulder. 

None of this made sense. Tella wouldn’t willingly let Jacks escort her anywhere and if she was under duress, she should be struggling against his touch. Or at least repulsed. But she was none of those things. Moreover, the longer he watched them, the more it seemed like Tella  _ wanted  _ to be in Jacks’s embrace. But the only way Jacks could possibly make her want him is by controlling her emotions… and Legend had ensured Jacks would no longer have that power over her in return for regaining his full power. 

Jacks leaned closer to Tella and whispered something, his lips brushing the edge of her ear. Nothing about Tella’s laugh was fabricated. Her mouth turned up into a warm, soft smile that reached all the way up to her eyes. And her eyes… she looked up at Jacks with the same expression she had the night she’d come to Legend’s room. The night she’d told him she loved him. 

Legend’s stomach churned with dread. For a moment he felt like he might be sick; he might have been had that feeling not been immediately replaced with loathing for the Fate that was stealing her away from him. White-hot rage surged through Legend’s veins. 

_ You deserve someone who will look at you the way you’re looking at me now. _

Legend remembered saying that to her, but now it tasted like ash in his mouth. When he’d said it, he’d meant it. He’d wanted her to find genuine, reciprocated love… but not with Jacks. Jacks didn’t love her. He couldn’t love her. He was only obsessed with her and wanted to possess her and keep her. The same things Legend had thought he wanted until this very moment. Seeing Tella look at Jacks with love and adoration in her eyes broke whatever stoic promise he’d made to himself to let her go. 

Legend had once watched a woman he thought he loved choose another man over him and it had broken him. He’d vowed never to care that deeply about anyone again. But watching Tella trace her fingernail over Jacks’s arm and wet her lips as if she was priming herself for one of his deadly kisses pushed Legend over the edge. 

Jacks had done something. Somehow, he’d found a way to circumvent the oath he’d given Legend. He’d found a loophole. Legend tried to concentrate on what Jacks had actually agreed to the day Legend had given him back his powers, but every coy glance or smile Tella gave Jacks made him lose his focus. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and thought hard. 

_ I promise not to use my powers on you or on Tella without permission.  _

Legend balked. 

_ Without permission.  _

But surely, Tella hadn’t given Jacks permission to control her emotions! Why would she do that? Legend could think of no good reason. It had to be part of some plot to bring down the Fallen Star, but surely Tella would have been smart enough to know that once she gave Jacks permission, he would never release her long enough to revoke it. 

Or maybe she  _ did _ know? Was this her plan? Find a way into the throne room and get close enough to the Fallen Star to kill him but sacrifice her own freedom to do so? Legend wouldn’t have been surprised if she had; after all, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d sacrificed herself so that others wouldn’t suffer. 

But Tella would never be happy this way. She might  _ think  _ she was happy, but she would never truly be with someone who loved and adored her. She would be a possession, a toy, meant to amuse and entertain the cruel Fate until he grew bored with her. 

“Oh, Tella,” Legend whispered despondently. “This was never what I wanted for you.” 

He felt a familiar tightness in his chest as if someone were squeezing his heart. He’d been afraid of it at first, but after the night Tella had come to his room and told him she loved him, he’d begun to crave it. By now, he was used to feeling it when he was with or near Tella, but only now did he allow himself to admit what it was. And now it was too late. It was too late to tell her how much he loved her. 

He called to her again, but it was futile. She might as well be a thousand leagues away for all the good it did. Only this time, when he called her name, Jacks looked up and cast a vicious sneer in his direction.  _ He can hear me _ , Legend realized. Legend’s fury at Jacks’s deception grew. The Fate had known exactly what he’d been doing when’d chosen the words for his oath. 

A sudden flash of movement at the entrance to the throne room caught Legend’s attention. The Assassin was practically dragging Scarlett in. She wasn’t wearing Her Majesty’s Gown (Legend suspected there wasn’t much left of it after it tried valiantly to protect her in the dungeons) and the silver streak of hair was missing, but there was no mistaking her. He couldn’t help but think of his brother at that moment. Julian would be disappointed that Scarlett had cut away her silver lock of hair. He’d explained his own to Legend and mentioned that Scarlett had a matching streak, something Julian felt was special between the two of them. 

On any other day, Legend would have been intrigued to see how this plan of theirs would unfold, but now all he cared about was Tella. Regardless of what happened between them, Legend wouldn’t allow her to spend the rest of her life as a pawn for Jacks. 

Legend surged forward, not even caring about the burning metal bars of his cage. He pounded against the bars and shouted as loud as he could. 

“TELLA!” He roared. “Tella, look at me! Tella, he’s controlling you, snap out of it! Don’t let him win!”

Tella never even glanced toward the cage. Scarlett’s eyes darted over to the cage but a deep crease of confusion marred her face. Legend suspected that the Fallen Star had put some kind of barrier on the cage so that no one outside of it could hear him. 

“TELLA!” He cried desperately. He would scream himself hoarse if that’s what it took. 

He grabbed the bars, ignoring the stinging pain as they burned his hands, and tried to rattle the cage. To him, it was a cacophony of noise, but no one else in the room appeared to be even the slightest bit disrupted. At least, not by Legend. 

Legend opted to stop shouting for Tella since it was painfully obvious that she couldn’t hear him. He let go of the bars gingerly, his palms covered in angry welts and blisters, and slumped to the floor onto his knees. He couldn’t remember ever feeling more hopeless than he did right now. 

He turned his attention to Scarlett, who was behaving in a very un-Scarlett manner. She was carrying herself differently, appearing more haughty and self-confident than she usually was. When she remarked that no one besides the Fallen Star knew she was pregnant, Legend realized her angle. 

She was trying to pass for her mother Paradise in the hope that the Fallen Star would remember his love for her and become mortal. Legend could see how that would be a feasible plan, but there were too many ways it could go wrong. 

“Stop!” Scarlett cried. “Paradise wouldn’t want you to do this!”

_ Like that,  _ Legend thought. Scarlett’s disguise had been so convincing… but she’d ruined it by calling out her mother’s name. 

Legend let out a growl of frustration that no one else could hear. Despair washed over him as he realized that if the Fallen Star couldn’t be killed, everything was for naught. Scarlett would probably end up dead, Julian would go mad with grief over losing her and do something stupid enough to get himself killed, and Tella… Tella would be trapped in a haze of false emotions and empty feelings for a creature unworthy of her. Legend cursed the gilded bars around him. He would rather die than be trapped and forced to watch Jacks toy with Tella. 

Somehow, Scarlett had reigned the Fallen Star back in. She was speaking calmly to him and perhaps it was a trick of Legend’s imagination, but it seemed like the Fate was in pain. At the very least, he was showing emotion, which was better than nothing. 

And then Legend saw it. Really, he saw two things that happened almost simultaneously. First, the Fallen Star’s golden tears turned clear and barely a heartbeat after that, Legend a moment of pure clarity on Tella’s face. Whereas moments ago she’d been dreamy and lovestruck, now she was fiercely determined as she shoved a knife into the Fallen Star’s chest. 

Legend stood frozen in momentary shock. He recovered quickly upon realizing that with the Fallen Star’s last breath, the enchantment on the cage was undone. Jacks must have realized this as well because he was practically dragging Tella out of the throne room by her arm. 

“Tella!” Legend called. His heart leaped into his throat when he saw her hesitate. 

She half-heartedly pulled away from Jacks, but his power over her was still strong. A few coaxing words and Tella’s eyes glassed over, her face becoming placid and slightly hollow. 

“Tella, stop!” Legend called again. 

“Why can’t you just leave us alone?” Tella cried. 

Legend tried not to let the words sting. She didn’t mean them. This was Jacks’s doing, not Tella’s. 

“Tella, wake up! He’s controlling you,” Legend appealed. “This isn’t you!”

He could see the war inside her. Jacks tightened his grip on Tella’s arm and grit his teeth. He was having to work extra hard to keep Tella’s emotions under his control. If he could just get Jacks to let go of her… Tella’s eyes flashed between serene emptiness and longing. Legend reached for her other hand.

Tella snatched her hand away from Jacks and Legend immediately seized the opportunity. He cast an illusion of the Temple of the Stairs, complete with the same fireworks that lit up the night sky on the night he’d made himself believe he didn’t love her. 

“Drop the illusion, Legend!” She demanded. 

“Tella, please,” Legend begged. He never begged. He never pleaded. But for Tella, there was nothing he wouldn’t do. “Please come back to me.”

“You made it abundantly clear,” she cried. “You didn’t want me!”

“Tella, I’m sorry I left you on the stairs that night. I shouldn’t have been afraid when I realized I was falling in love with you.”

Tella’s eyes no longer seemed hollow or empty. The punch-drunk lovesick expression she wore when she’d looked at Jacks was gone; in its place was one of hope intermingled with terror. 

“No…” Tella gasped. “No, you can’t say that.”

“It’s the truth,” Legend replied simply. “I love you, Tella. I love everything about you and I don’t plan to stop loving you.”

Tella’s hands were shaking. Legend captured them in his own and brought them to his mouth. “It’s okay, Tella.”

“No! You can’t…” Tella still looked terrified, as if she’d stolen something from him that could never be returned. 

“It’s too late,” he said her with a grin. 

“No, it’s not!” She insisted stubbornly. 

“This is my choice,” Legend told her. “I don’t need immortality. You’re my forever.” 

And he meant it. He’d been so afraid for so long of losing his immortality to love. Somehow, being locked inside that cage had made him rethink everything he thought he’d known. Julian’s words came back to him:  _ Everyone you ever could have loved will be long dead and gone. _

Watching Jacks manipulate Tella made Legend realize that there was another immortal who would never stop trying to possess her. He’d seen the animalistic hunger in Jacks’s eyes, the desire to possess but not to love. Legend hated to admit it, but for a moment, he’d seen himself in Jacks. And he’d hated it. He had suddenly longed for Tella to look at him again the way she had the night she’d come to his room.

Most of all, he wanted a  _ life _ with her. And that no longer terrified him like it had the night he’d left her on the stairs. 

The illusion was gone. They were back in the palace. Tella looked around wildly. 

“Oh, Legend,” she said woefully. “I’m so sorry.” She brought her hands up to her face, covering it as if ashamed. 

Legend gently wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled her hands away from her beautiful, tear-struck face. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he insisted. 

She pulled one of her hands free and gestured around the room as if to remind them both that the reason for the lack of illusion was her fault. 

“But your magic,” she said through tears. 

“Was my magic the only reason you loved me?” A hint of fear pricked at his heart. 

“No, of course not,” Tella answered immediately. “I loved that you were magical, but it wasn’t why I love you.”

“Then I don’t need it.” 

Tella wiped her eyes and cast him a doubting look. 

“Tella, I promise, you mean more to me than my magic and my illusions ever could.” 

She sniffled as he pulled her against him, hugging her tightly against his chest. He could tell she still didn’t believe him. He supposed he would just have to spend the rest of their lives showing her, which was perfectly fine by him. 


End file.
